The head gasket plays a very important role in the function of your car’s engine, and a blown head gasket can cause serious damage and lead to major repairs. A head gasket is a seal that is fitted between the piston cylinder head and the engine block. The car’s engine is an internal combustion engine. For combustion to occur inside the piston chamber, high compression pressure must be achieved. The head gasket seals the combustion process and prevents the coolant and engine oil from mixing together in the combustion chamber. A blown head gasket can cause engine malfunction and significant loss of engine power [source: Bumbeck]. Let us now learn how to tell if you have a blown head gasket.

Watch your engine temperature gauge. If your car is constantly overheating it may be a symptom of a blown head gasket.

Check the engine coolant level. If the car is constantly losing coolant, it may be because your car’s coolant is leaking from the cooling system into the oil pan. This happens when the head gasket is blown.

Check your car’s oil level with the oil dipstick. If you notice froth on the dipstick, there may be coolant mixed in with the oil due to a faulty head gasket.

Watch for sweet smelling white smoke with water droplets coming from the exhaust pipe. This could be a sign that the head gasket has been blown off [source: Cars Direct].

When you choose a reman engine, you kiss your old engine and its nagging problems goodbye. In exchange, you get a “like new” engine that has been completely remanufactured from the block up. In addition to using many new components, the block, crankshaft and other durable parts are cleaned and remachined to original factory specifications.

The control arm bushing consists of an outer metal sleeve, a durable rubber bushing and an inner metal sleeve. It’s attached to the ends of the control arm as it’s supported to the frame of the vehicle. Without the bushing, the metal ends of the control arm would be mounted to the frame and cause metal-to-metal contact. This would cause major clunking as the suspension maneuvers over bumps and other deviations on the roads. The bushing acts as a hinged dampener to cushion the suspension and provide a more manageable and quiet ride. Most front-wheel drive cars that employ struts only use a lower control arm, but many trucks and SUVs have an upper and lower control arm.

In automotive suspension, an automobile’s control arm or wishbone (aka. A-arm or A-frame) is a nearly flat and roughly triangular suspension member (or sub-frame), that pivots in two places. The base of the triangle attaches at the frame and pivots on a bushing. The narrow end attaches to the steering knuckle and pivots on a ball joint.

The upper control arm can clearly be seen at the top portion of the suspension components in the attached photo, where it is the silver part horizontally attached to the frame inside the red body portion and connecting to the steering knuckle near the side of the tire’s wheel rim. Note the roughly A-shaped design with the top of the A near the tire and the bottom two points connected to the frame inside the body’s space. In the photo, the A-shape is reinforced with a solid triangular plate near the top of the A.

Clutches in an automatic transmission control the activation of planetary gear sets. These are made up of several discs, alternating between metal and fiber inside of a metal container. When these clutches fail, the transmission cannot operate properly.

There are several different signs that might pop up to indicate you’ve bent or broken an axle shaft. A slight wobbling in your shaft while driving is the most obvious, and will probably be the first major clue that there’s a problem. In addition, misalignment with brake pads, as well as various kinds of visible leakage may occur.

An automatic transmission (also called automatic gearbox) is a type of motor vehicle transmission that can automatically change gear ratios as the vehicle moves, freeing the driver from having to shift gears manually. Most automatic transmissions have a defined set of gear ranges, often with a parking pawl feature that locks the output shaft of the transmission stroke face to keep the vehicle from rolling either forward or backward.

Similar but larger devices are also used for heavy-duty commercial and industrial vehicles and equipment. Some machines with limited speed ranges or fixed engine speeds, such as some forklifts and lawn mowers, only use a torque converter to provide a variable gearing of the engine to the wheels.

It all starts with a few telltale problems: A dash light coming on for a brief moment, maybe dimmed headlights and a few flickering gauges. Perhaps there’s even an odd smell, or a growling sound coming from under the hood.

Is this a case of automotive possession? No. Most likely it’s one of many possible alternator problems, and without a little attention, this problem can cause car trouble ranging from slow starts all the way up to a dead car.

While an alternator is a relatively simple component containing only a few parts, it plays a critical role in any vehicle’s operation. Essentially it turns the mechanical energy of the engine’s rotating crank shaft into electricity through induction. Wires within the alternator cut through a magnetic field; this in turn induces electrical current. That current is used to power your car’s accessories, which can be anything from headlights to the electro-hydraulic lifts on a snow plow. The alternator also keeps the battery fully charged, providing the power it needs to start the car.

The intake air temperature sensor plays a vital role in a vehicle’s exhaust system. Essentially, this sensor is what regulates the temperature of any air coming into the vehicle. A car’s computer system will make adjustments based on what the air is like, as hot and cold air functions differently in a vehicle. If your sensor is working improperly, however, the computer will not get accurate readings and will make adjustments that could negatively impact the performance of your vehicle. This could also cause the “check engine” light to come on. –